After so many years, I have my first visit to Hatchards of Piccadilly, England’s oldest bookshop

Hatchards, the oldest bookshop in England, was founded by John Hatchard on Piccadilly since 1797 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

Hatchards is the oldest bookshop in England and has been on Piccadilly since 1797, when the shop was founded by John Hatchard. So, I cannot understand why I never stepped through its doors until I was in Piccadilly yesterday.

Of course, I have walked past Hatchards many times before and have been along Piccadilly throughout my life. Most memorably, I spent working time in Piccadilly when the Athens News commissioned me to write a major two-page feaure on ‘Byzantium 330-1453’, an exhibition hosted by the Royal Academy of Arts in the Main Galleries in Burlington House for five months in 2008-2009.

I have been to Hatchards other outlet at Saint Pancras station last year, when Charlotte and I were on our way to Paris, yet somehow I had missed the shop on Piccadilly all my life. But then, there are many places I have never visited on Piccadilly, including Fortum and Mason, right next door to Hatchards.

The street façade of the Piccadilly wing of Burlington House reflected in the windows of Hatchards, the oldest bookshop in Britain (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

I was in Piccadilly yesterday with the Anglican mission agency USPG and the publisher SPCK for the celebrations of Founder’s Day in Saint Jame’s Church. And, of course, on Charlotte’s recommendation, I spent some time afterwards in Hatchards, which is prominently located between Saint James’s and Fortum and Mason and across the street from Burlington House.

SPCK is one of England’s oldest publishers – founded by Thomas Bray in 1698, it is older than John Murray (1768), and younger only than Cambridge University Press (1534) and Oxford University Press (1586). It seemed only right, after celebrating with one of England’s oldest publishers, to then spend some time too in England’s oldest bookshop.

Hatchards has had a shop on Piccadilly for 228 years. The business was founded by the bookseller and publisher John Hatchard ((1769-1849) at 173 Piccadilly in 1797. John Hatchard was still in his 20s when he took over the bookshop at 173 Piccadilly formerly run by Richard White and bought a collection of merchandise from a bookseller Simon Vandenbergh.

The shop moved along Piccadilly in 1801, to No 189-190, and the street number of the second shop changed to No 187 in 1820. Meanwhile, the site of the first shop had been cleared in 1810 to build the Egyptian Hall.

Hatchard had deep religious views and was an abolitionist and he became the main publisher for works associated with the Clapham Sect. William Wilberforce, Sir Walter Scott, Sir John Hawkins and Lord Spencer were among the figures of the day who frequented Hatchard’s back parlour. Sydney Smith writing in the Edinburgh Review in 1810, described Hatchard’s visitors as ‘a set of well-dressed, prosperous gentlemen, assembling daily at the shop well in with the people in power, delighted with every existing institution and with every existing circumstance.’

Hatchard died at Clapham Common in 1849, and there is a memorial to him in Saint Paul’s Church, Clapham. His grandson, George Josiah Palmer (1828-1892), was the founder and editor of the Church Times.

Later in the 19th century, Hatchards was Oscar Wilde’s favourite bookshop, and he signed his books sitting at the ground floor main table – still known today as ‘Oscar’s Table’.

Hatchards was bought for £6,000 by the convicted fraudster Clarence Hatry (1888-1965). Ten years earlier, the fall of the Hatry group which had been worth about £24 million (equivalent to £1,840 million today), contributed to the Wall Street crash of 1929. Hatry turned around the ailing business at Hatchards, and in 1946 he also acquired the publishers T Werner Laurie Ltd. Within four years, he owned the largest retail book business in London.

Hatchards was acquired by William Collins & Sons in 1956, and it expanded its number of retail outlets in the 1980s, opening branches across the United Kingdom. It was bought by Pentos in 1990. Pentos, in turn, was acquired by Waterstones who rebranded all the shops apart from Hatchards on Piccadilly. Waterstones also owns Hodges Figgis in Dublin, which was founded in 1768 and is the oldest bookshop in Ireland.

Today, Hatchards has a reputation for attracting high-profile authors and holds three royal warrants. The shop opened its new outlet in St Pancras station in 2014, beside a new branch of Fortnum and Mason, continuing a pairing that goes back over two centuries. A third shop opened in Cheltenham in 2022.

‘Oscar’s Table’ on the ground floor … Hatchards was Oscar Wilde’s favourite bookshop and he signed his books sitting at the main table (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Hatchards is no ordinary Waterstone’s shop – it is a unique British institution and a landmark building on Piccadilly. It is familiar to many with its curving bay windows and its prominently displayed royal warrants above the front doors. Inside, the shop has a grand, four-storey staircase and mementos of the past through the building, with historic photographs, old catalogues, Oscar Wilde’s table, which continues to be used for book signings, and an anonymous painting said to be a portrait of the founder John Hatchard.

The shop also displays an array of first editions from Margaret Atwood, Samuel Beckett, Ted Hughes, DH Lawrence and Iris Murdoch. The shop continues to host regular book signings and author events. Indeed, many of those authors are also regular customers, and the shop remains a literary haven for authors.

As for the Egyptian Hall on Piccadilly, built in 1812 on the site of the first Hatchards shop, it became a venue for exhibitions, popular entertainments and lectures, and became known as ‘England’s Home of Mystery’. But after less than a century, it was demolished in 1905 to make way for flats and offices.

Hatchards is the oldest bookshop in England. But it is not the oldest bookshop on these islands. That accolade goes to Hodges Figgis on Dawson Street in Dublin, which was founded in 1768, and is the third-oldest functioning bookshop in the world, after the Livraria Bertrand in Lisbon (1732) and Pennsylvania’s Moravian Book Shop (1745).

Hodges Figgis opened in Dublin in 1768 at 10 Skinner’s Row, near Christ Church Cathedral, and has had many addresses since then, including 32 Grafton Street (1797), 104 Grafton Street (1819), 20 Nassau Street (1920), 6-7 Dawson Street (1945), and Saint Stephen’s Green (1974). Since 1979, Hodges Figgis has been at 56-58 Dawson Street, the former Browne and Nolan bookshop. Like Hatchards, Hodges Figgis is now owned and operated by Waterstones. But then, so too are Dillons and Foyles in London and Blackwell’s in Oxford.

Hopefully, Hatchards, and all those other unique bookshops, maintain their style and presence for generations to come. And, hopefully, I shall be back in Hatchards the next time I am in Piccadilly.

Hatchards is familiar to many with its curving bay windows and creative window displays (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

A day with USPG at Saint Jame’s, Piccadilly, and memories of a day with ‘a Very Dangerous Man’

Saint James’s Church, Piccadilly, where USPG and SPCK celebrated Founder’s Day or Bray Day today (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

I spent much of today at the celebrations of Founder’s Day with the Anglican mission agency USPG and the publishers SPCK in Saint James’s Church, Piccadilly. The day celebrates the life of the Revd Dr Thomas Bray, who was commemorated in the Calendar of the Church of England on Saturday (15 February) and who was the founder of both the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge (SPCK) and SPG (the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, now USPG).

This year, Founder’s Day began with a celebration of the Eucharist in Saint James’s, and included reflections on the people who bring hope in the midst the ongoing conflict in the Holy Land, with an address by Dr Ruth Valerio, Advocacy Director at Embrace the Middle East. There was an opportunity too to meet many of friends during the buffet lunch that followed.

Canon Lucy Winkett, who presided at the Eucharist today, is a writer, broadcaster and musician. She has been the Rector of Saint James’s since 2010 and Priest-in-Charge of Saint Pancras, Euston Road, since 2023. She was one of the first generation of women to be ordained priest in the 1990s, and the first woman priest to be appointed to Saint Paul’s Cathedral.

She is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day and the author of Our Sound Is Our Wound, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book in 2010.

Canon Joseph McCormick (1834-1914), William Temple’s immediate predecessor at Saint James’s, played Cricket for Ireland

Saint James’s was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, and was consecrated in 1684. Since then, it has had many distinguished rectors, including four future Archbishops of Canterbury: Thomas Tenison, William Wake, Thomas Secker and William Temple, who was the rector throughout World War I.

Temple’s immediate predecessor was a Liverpool-born Irish priest, Canon Joseph McCormick (1834-1914), whose father, William McCormick (1801-1878), was the MP for Derry City in 1860-1865. Joseph McCormick played Cricket for Ireland under the alias of J Bingley, the name of one of the schools he had attended, to disguise his participation from his parishioners in Dunmore East, Co Waterford. He also rowed in the Cambridge Boat in March 1856, helping to defeat Oxford in 22 minutes 45 seconds, and he was a well-known mountain climber.

Joseph McCormick was the Rector of Dunumore East, Co Waterford, before moving to England, where he was a chaplain to three successive monarch, Queen Victoria, Edward VII and George V. When I was working on doctoral research on Irish Anglican missionaries in South Africa, one of the people I came to know as ‘my missionaries’ was Joseph McCormick’s son, Canon (William) Patrick ‘Pat’ Glyn McCormick (1877-1940), who worked with SPG in the Transvaal in 1903-1910. Pat McCormick played cricket for Devon and had one first class match for MCC in 1907, and also played Rugby for Transvaal. He later succeeded Dick Shepherd (1880-1937) as the Vicar of Saint Martin in the Fields in London, and continued his work among the ‘down and outs.’

Another son, Joseph Gough McCormick (1874-1924) became the Dean of Manchester, and also played cricket with distinction for Norfolk 1899 to 1909, scoring four hundreds.

The Revd Donald Reeves (centre) at the Irish School of Ecumenics with Canon Patrick Comerford of the Church of Ireland Theological Institute (left) and Dr Andrew Pierce of the Irish School of Ecumenics in Dublin in 2011

Many years ago, I spent a memorable day with another former Rector of Saint James’s, the Revd Donald Reeves, who died a few months ago (31 October 2024) at the of 90. He was once described by Margaret Thatcher as ‘a very dangerous man’ and by The Times as the ‘radical rector’ and ‘the most extraordinary clergyman in the Church of England.’

While he was the Rector of Saint James’s, Donald Reeves developed a reputation among Thatcher’s allies as a ‘turbulent priest’ – an eminent and honourable place to hold in Anglican tradition.

I spent a day with Donald Reeves when he visited Dublin in June 2011. By then, he was in his late 70s, but he was still working on peace-building and peace-making projects in the Balkans. He had long been a thorn in the side of the Establishment, and when he heard Thatcher’s description of him as ‘a very dangerous man’, he was ‘rather pleased … it felt like a natural title.’ It is a sobriquet that he came to wear with pride and that inspired the title of his autobiography The Memoirs of a Very Dangerous Man.

But the man who enjoyed excoriating Thatcherite dogma and episcopal complacency in the 1980s, emphasised his role as a peacemaker rather than as a troublemaker. He continued to co-direct the Soul of Europe, working at peacemaking and peace-building in the Balkans. When we met, he was visiting Dublin, preaching in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral and speaking about the work of the Soul of Europe at a seminar organised by the Irish School of Ecumenics and co-sponsored by the Church of Ireland Theological Institute.

Through the Soul of Europe project, Donald Reeves spent much of his time in the Balkans, trying to build durable trust between communities only nominally at peace after terrible conflicts. He sought to help people living through post-conflict situations to realise Nelson Mandela’s words first addressed to politicians in Northern Ireland: ‘If you want to make peace do not speak with your friends, you must speak with your enemies.’

He was frustrated by the way in which ignorance of religion has become an embedded in official thinking, so that religion is seen as matter of choice and that a real illiteracy of religion has emerged. It means churches and mosques are valued only and merely as places of cultural heritage and not as living religious communities. But ‘religion is the crucible in which the “chosen trauma’ of a community is held.’

He expressed a deep-seated ‘nervousness’ about growing Islamophobia in Europe, describing it as an ‘alarming phenomenon.’

‘The Muslims are the new Jews of Europe,’ he told us.

Inside Saint James’s Church, Piccadilly, where USPG and SPCK celebrated Founder’s Day today (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Donald St John Reeves was born in 1934 and was educated at Sherborne School, Queens’ College, Cambridge. While he was teaching in Beirut in the 1960s, he felt called to ordained ministry, and after training at Cuddesdon Theological College he was ordained deacon in 1963 and priest in 1964. After two years as a curate, he became chaplain to Bishop Mervyn Stockwood of Southwark, who had a reputation for controversy and socialist politics.

His heyday was as the Rector of Saint James’s, Piccadilly, a space he filled with extraordinary worship, celebrated pulpit dialogues, a coffee house and street market. Those who passed through the church doors included leading international film-makers, writers, theologians and politicians.

He was the Rector of Saint James’s for 18 years (1980-1998). When he first arrived there, it was not an auspicious place. Although the church was known for society weddings, there was little evidence of a congregation rooted in the community. ‘On my arrival,’ he said, ‘I could see no justification for keeping the church open.’

The church where William Blake was baptised was in decay and facing closure. Four years later, as the church celebrated it tercentenary, he was able to tell the Guardian: ‘There’s only one thing to do with a church which is slap in the centre of London and whose congregation has dwindled ever since the 19th century brought business to where town houses used to be: you use the site and turn it into a showcase for Christianity.’

Gradually, he turned Saint James’s into a thriving institution, closely linked to local people, both rich and poor, and a place for exploring ideas. Saint James’s soon had its own orchestra, a full-time arts director, a programme of lectures called ‘Turning Point,’ and a programme called ‘Dunamais’, offering lectures, workshops and the opportunity to explore issues of personal, national and international security in the nuclear age. The church became a centre of both liturgical innovation of theological debate and radical politics. He encouraged debate across the boundaries, inviting speakers as diverse as Norman Tebbit and Tony Benn, non-believers as well as believers.

‘Jesus wasn’t exactly into garden parties. He was regarded as a nuisance,’ he said. ‘The churches shouldn’t be creating little managers of sectarian communities but should be places of dissent.’

His own challenge to Thatcherism was overt. He sparked lively debate by speaking out against the Falklands War and by helping the miners’ wives during their husbands’ bitter strike. After several brushes with Thatcher, she described him as ‘a very dangerous man’ – an acknowledgement that by then he was part of the Anglican tradition of ‘troublesome priests’ – apt to turn critical fire not only on the world but on the Church too.

Bishop Trevor Huddleston, a veteran campaigner against apartheid, who lived in the Saint James’s Vicarage for many years, was another significant influence.

Donals Reeves was made MBE in 2006 for his peace-building in Bosnia, received awards for fostering good relations between the Abrahamic Faiths, and was a Visiting Fellow in Peace Studies at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Canon Paul Oestreicher, in a tribute in the Church Times, wrote: ‘Donald was a spiritual activist whose own “Eucharistic Prayer” (below) will tell you all you need to know about him.’

We had lunch together before he left Dublin, and I said then how I hoped we continue to hear his radical voice for many years to come. His mark is still evident today in Saint James’s, Piccadilly, with its inclusiveness, its celebration of other faith traditions, its social justice ministries to the marginalised in greater London, and its continuing work with asylum seekers.

‘Eucharistic Prayer’

We break this bread for those who love God,
For those who follow the path of the Buddha
And worship the God of the Hindus;
For our sisters and brothers in Islam,
And for the Jewish people from whom we come.

We break this bread for the great green earth;
We call to mind the forests, fields and flowers
Which we are destroying,
That one day, with the original blessing, God’s creation will be restored.

We break this bread for those who have no bread,
The starving, the homeless and the refugees,
That one day this planet may be a home for everyone.

We break this bread for the broken parts of ourselves,
The wounded child in all of us,
For our broken relationships,
That one day we may glimpse the wholeness that is of Christ.

The south side of Saint James’s Church, Piccadilly, where USPG and SPCK celebrated Founder’s Day today (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2025: 15, Monday 17 February 2025

They came to … ‘him, asking him for a sign from heaven’ (Mark 8: 12) … Comberford name signs and street signs (Photo montage: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar. Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent are little more than two weeks away (5 March 2025), and Saint Patrick’s Day is just four weeks ago (17 March 2025).

The calendar of the Church of England today remembers the life and witness of Janani Luwum (1977), Archbishop of Uganda and Martyr. Later this morning, I hope to attend the Founder’s Day celebrations with the Anglican mission agency USPG and the publishers SPCK in Saint James’s Church, Picadilly. But before the day begins, and before catching the train to London, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation’ (Mark 8: 12) … confusing signs leading into the sea at the beach at Bettystown, Co Meath (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 8: 11-13 (NRSVA):

11 The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him. 12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, ‘Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.’ 13 And he left them, and getting into the boat again, he went across to the other side.

‘Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation’ (Mark 8: 12) … ‘Structure, Sign and Play’ by Jacques Derrida

Today’s Reflection:

In the Gospel reading this morning, the Pharisees ask Jesus for a sign (Mark 8: 11-13; see Matthew 12: 38-39; Matthew 16: 1-4; Luke 11: 16, 29). The request for a sign (Mark 8: 11-13) is also found in Saint John’s Gospel: ‘What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing?’ (see John 6: 30).

The Greek word used here is σημεῖον (sēmeion) meaning aa sign, a mark, token, by which anything is known or distinguished; it can be a token, pledge, assurance, a proof, evidence, a sign, wonder; a remarkable event, wonderful appearance, or extraordinary phenomenon; a portent, prodigy, or a wonderful work; a miraculous operation, miracle.

Signs are a common motif in the Hebrew Bible. In its Biblical usage, the word σημεῖον (sēmeion) often means a prophet’s actions that verify that the prophet has been sent from God. So the Pharisees in today’s reading are making what would seem to all around them as a reasonable request.

There are seven miracles in Saint John’s Gospel that are referred to as ‘signs’:

• water into wine (John 2: 1-11)
• healing with a word (John 4: 46-51)
• healing a crippled man at Bethesda (John 5: 1-9)
• the feeding of 5,000 (John 6: 1-14)
• walking on water (John 6: 16-21)
• the man born blind (John 9: 1-7)
• the Raising of Lazarus (John 11: 1-46)

These seven signs are generally seen as given to confirm the deity of Christ. But they also show compassion and empathy for others and affirm or underline the core values at the heart of the Beatitudes – and we were reading Saint Luke’s version of the Beatitudes yesterday (Luke 6: 17-26).

These seven signs show:

• water into wine: saving people from public embarrassment, and affirm love and relationships (John 2: 1-11), blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled;
• healing a royal official’s son in Capernaum: care for the sake and infirm, no matter who their families or parents are (John 4: 46-51), blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy;
• healing a crippled man at Bethesda: acting on behalf of those who have no-one to act on their behalf (John 5: 1-9), blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth;
• the feeding of 5,000: feeding the hungry (John 6: 1-14), once again, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled;
• walking on water: being in control of our environment and caring for the climate, and calming all the storms and tempests in the world (John 6: 16-21), blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God;
• the man born blind: bringing sight to the blind (John 9: 1-7), blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God;
• the Raising of Lazarus: blessed are those who mourn (John 11: 1-46), blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

And to continue:

‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely] on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.’

In this world, that is becoming more oppressive, fragile, tense and dangerous with each new set of daily decisions in the Oval Office, what other signs do we need for Christian hope, discipleship and action?

‘Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation’ (Mark 8: 12) … a warning sign on the old town beach in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 17 February 2025):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘The Struggle for Indigenous Land Rights in Brazil.’ This theme was introduced yesterday with a Programme Update by the Revd Dr Rodrigo Espiúca dos Anjos Siqueira, Coordinator of the Department of Advocacy, Human, Environmental and Territorial Rights of the Anglican Diocese of Brasília. Pastor of Espírito Santo Parish, Novo Gama, Goiás.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Monday 17 February 2025) invites us to pray:

May God look with mercy on the Indigenous peoples and traditional communities of Brazil and grant them a place to rest and work the land.

The Collect:

God of truth,
whose servant Janani Luwum walked in the light,
and in his death defied the powers of darkness:
free us from fear of those who kill the body,
that we too may walk as children of light,
through him who overcame darkness by the power of the cross,
Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

God our redeemer,
whose Church was strengthened by the blood of your martyr Janani Luwum:
so bind us, in life and death, to Christ’s sacrifice
that our lives, broken and offered with his,
may carry his death and proclaim his resurrection in the world;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

‘Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation’ (Mark 8: 12) … pub signs and boat signs in Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2025: 13, Saturday 15 February 2025

Five loaves and two fish in a motif on the railings of Saint Joseph’s Cathedral in Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar. Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent are less than three weeks away (5 March 2025), and tomorrow is the Third Sunday before Lent (16 February 2025).

The Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Sigfrid (1045), bishop and Apostle of Sweden, and Thomas Bray (1730), priest and the founder of SPCK and SPG, now USPG (15 February). Before today begins, however, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

A variety of bread gathered in a basket in a restaurant in Panormos, near Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 8: 1-10 (NRSVA):

1 In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them, 2 ‘I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way – and some of them have come from a great distance.’ 4 His disciples replied, ‘How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?’ 5 He asked them, ‘How many loaves do you have?’ They said, ‘Seven.’ 6 Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them to the crowd. 7 They had also a few small fish; and after blessing them, he ordered that these too should be distributed. 8 They ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 9 Now there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. 10 And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

The miracle of the five loaves and two fish … a modern Ethiopian painting in Mount Saint Joseph’s Abbey, Roscrea (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

There are six different accounts of two miracle stories associated with the Feeding of the Multitude. The first story, the feeding of 5,000, is found in all four Gospels (see Matthew 14: 13-21; Mark 6: 31-44; Luke 9:10-17; and John 6: 5-15). This is the only miracle – apart from the Resurrection – that is found in all three Synoptic Gospels and in Saint John’s Gospel. The second story, the feeding of 4,000, is told by both Mark in today’s reading (Mark 8: 1-10) and by Matthew (Matthew 15: 32-38), but not by either Luke or John.

In the Feeding of the 5,000, Jesus feed the multitude with five loaves and two fish shared by a boy. When Jesus hears that John the Baptist had been killed, he take a boat to a solitary place, near Bethsaida. The crowds follow him on foot from the towns, and when Jesus lands he sees a large crowd. He had compassion for them and heals their sick. As evening approaches, the disciples tell him it is a remote place, it is late, and urge him to send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy food.

Jesus says they do not need to go away, and asks the disciples to give them something to eat. They find five loaves and two fish, Jesus asks the people to sit on the grass in groups of 50 and 100, takes the five loaves and two fish, looks up to heaven, gives thanks, breaks them. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. Taking, blessing, breaking and giving are the four essential liturgical actions at the Eucharist identified by Dom Gregory Dix in The Shape of the Liturgy.

All eat and are satisfied, and the disciples pick up 12 baskets full of broken pieces that are left over. The number of those who ate was about 5,000 men, as well as women and children.

If there were 5,000 men there that day, and one woman with each man and two children with each couple, then we are talking about the feeding of 20,000 people, or the population of a town like Wexford, Carlow or Sligo in Ireland, Berkhamsted, Brownhills, Truro or Wednesbury in England, Ierapetra or Agios Nikolaos in Crete.

Professor Colin Humphreys of Selwyn College, Cambridge, challenges many early calculations and now suggests the number of men, women and children at the Exodus was about 20,000. So, in feeding the multitude, Christ is bringing all our wanderings, all our journeys, all our searches for God, to their fulfilment when we meet him in sharing the good news and break bread together.

In Apocryphal writings, II Baruch 29: 8, a Jewish pseudepigraphical text thought to date from the late 1st century CE or early 2nd century CE, also connects the feeding in the wilderness in Exodus 16 with the Messianic age.

The feeding with the fish also looks forward to the Resurrection. The fish is an early symbol of faith in the Risen Christ: Ichthus (ἰχθύς, ΙΧΘΥC) is the Greek word for fish, and can be read as an acrostic, a word formed from the first letters of words, spelling out ἰησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ Υἱός, Σωτήρ (Iēsous Khristos Theou Huios, Sōtēr), ‘Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour.’

The story of the feeding of the 4,000 is told only by Matthew and Mark. A large crowd gathers and follows Jesus. He calls his disciples and tells them he has compassion for the people, who have followed him for three days and now have nothing to eat. He does not want to send them away hungry, for fear they may collapse on the way.

The disciples say they are in a remote place and ask where they could find enough bread to feed such a crowd. All they have is seven loaves and a few small fish.

Jesus tells the people to sit down on the ground, he takes the loaves and fish, gives thanks, breaks them and gives them to the disciples, who then give them to the people. All ate and were satisfied. Afterwards, the disciples collect seven basketfuls of broken pieces that are leftover. The number of those who eat is 4,000 men, with the number of women and children not counted. Jesus then sends the crowd away, gets into the boat and goes to the area of the district of Dalmanutha (Matthew names it as Magadan or Magdala).

There are differences in the details of the two feeding stories. Are they two distinct miracles?

The baskets used to collect the food that remains are 12 κόφινοι (kófinoi, hand baskets) in Matthew (14: 20) and Mark (6: 43). But they are seven σπυρίδες (spyrídes, large baskets) in Matthew 15: 37 and Mark 8: 8. A σπυρίς (spyrís) or large basket was double the size of a κόφινος (kófinos). An indication of the size of a spyrís is that the Apostle Paul was let out in one through a gap in the city wall in Damascus to escape a plot to kill him (Acts 9: 25).

The two feeding miracles – the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000 – show that Christ cares for all seek him and listen to his teaching, both Jew and Gentile.

At the feeding of the 5,000, the people were certainly almost all Jews. They came from the surrounding towns and were familiar with where Jesus was going with his apostles to get some time alone. Then, after he fed them, they were about to come and make him king (see John 6:15).

When Jesus makes the people sit in groups of hundreds and fifties (Mark 6: 40; Luke 9: 14), the numbers may recall the place in the Exodus story where the people had rulers over fifties and hundreds (Exodus 18: 25). When the 12 have fed the multitude, each gets a full basket back. Perhaps the 12 baskets of leftovers represent the 12 tribes of Israel.

The feeding of the 4,000, on the other hand, may take place in a Gentile setting. It takes place after Jesus goes to the region of Tyre and Sidon. This is Gentile territory, although there would have been some Jews that lived there, which is why he was able to stay in a house there (Mark 7: 24).

This is the area where Christ heals the daughter of the Greek-speaking Syro-Phoenician or Canaanite woman (see Matthew 15: 22, Mark 7: 26), the only miracle of Jesus recorded in that region, and which we read about on Thursday. Both may be seen as clear signs that the Messianic blessing now extends to all people through the Messiah, and a fulfilment of the prophecy that the Messiah is to be a ‘light to the Gentiles’ (Isaiah 42: 6, 49: 6), which is one of the Christmas promises at Candlemas two weeks ago (see Luke 2: 29-32, 2 February).

When Jesus leaves the area, Mark says, he goes to the Sea of Galilee and then to its east coast, ‘the region of the Decapolis’, populated by Gentiles (Mark 7: 31). There he heals a deaf man who has a speech impediment, and the people spread the word about him (Mark 7: 31-37, which we read on Friday, 14 February 2025).

By now, a large number of Gentiles from the region of Tyre and Sidon and from the Decapolis are following Jesus. He goes up a mountain and does many healings (Matthew 15: 29-31), and ‘they praised the God of Israel’. This last phrase indicates that these people are not primarily Jews, for when Jesus does miracles among Jews, they ‘praised God’ (see Matthew 9: 8; Mark 2: 12; Luke 13: 13; 18: 43; etc.).

What is the significance in Mark 8: 8 of saying that there are seven large baskets of leftover bread? In the Gentile context of the feeding of the 4,000, perhaps the seven full baskets harken back to the seven Gentile nations in Canaan that had once been driven out God but that are now counted in by Christ.

All are invited to be healed and fed at the Eucharist. As were reminded at Candlemas two weeks ago,

‘Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.’ (Luke 2: 29-32).

Five loaves and two fish … ‘St Peter’s Harrogate Feeding Hungry People’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 15 February 2025):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Founders’ Day.’ USPG and SPCK are celebrating ‘Founders’ Day’ in Saint James’s Church, Picadilly, next Monday, 17 February 2025. This theme was introduced last Sunday with a Reflection by Dr Jo Sadgrove, Research and Learning Advisor, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 15 February 2025, Founders’ Day) invites us to pray:

We pray for the work of USPG on the day that we remember its founder, Thomas Bray. May we look back with open minds to discover new insights to inform the path we tread.

The Collect:

O God,
you know us to be set
in the midst of so many and great dangers,
that by reason of the frailty of our nature
we cannot always stand upright:
grant to us such strength and protection
as may support us in all dangers
and carry us through all temptations;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Go before us, Lord, in all we do
with your most gracious favour,
and guide us with your continual help,
that in all our works
begun, continued and ended in you,
we may glorify your holy name,
and finally by your mercy receive everlasting life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:
Lord of the hosts of heaven,
our salvation and our strength,
without you we are lost:
guard us from all that harms or hurts
and raise us when we fall;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of the Third Sunday before Lent:

Almighty God,
who alone can bring order
to the unruly wills and passions of sinful humanity:
give your people grace
so to love what you command
and to desire what you promise,
that, among the many changes of this world,
our hearts may surely there be fixed
where true joys are to be found;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

A memorial in Saint Botolph Without, Aldgate, London, to Thomas Bray, a former Vicar and founder of USPG and SPCK (Photograph: Patrick Comerford) (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Introducing the Stations of the Cross at the start of Holy Week 2024 in St Alban’s Church, Holborn

‘Jesus dies on the cross’ … Station 12 in the Stations of the Cross by Hans Feibusch in Saint Alban’s Church, Holborn (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

Holy Week began today and at the Palm Sunday liturgy in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford, this morning, I was involved as the narrator in the reading of the Passion Narrative.

In previous years, my reflections in Lent, in Passiontide or in Holy Week, my reflections have looked at the Stations of the Cross in a variety of locations including: Saint Mel’s Cathedral, Longford (2018); Saint John’s Well, Millstreet, Co Cork (2018); the chapel in Saint John’s Hospital, Lichfield (2018); Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton, Co Limerick (2019); Gormanston College, Co Meath (2019); Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth (2019); the Church of the Annunciation, Clonard, Wexford (2022); Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford (2022); Saint Dunstan and All Saints’ Church, Stepney (2023); and Saint Frances de Sales Church, Wolverton (2023).

This afternoon, on Palm Sunday, as we enter Holy Week and prepare for Good Friday and Easter Day, I am looking at the Stations of the Cross in Saint Alban’s Church, in Holborn, London.

I was in Saint Alban’s Church last month for the annual ‘Founder’s Day’ or Bray Day, organised by SPCK (Society for the Promoting Christian Knowledge) and USPG (United Society Propagation of the Gospel), both founded by Thomas Bray.

Saint Alban’s is a well-known but well-hidden church between the City of London and the West End. A beautiful Victorian church, it was rebuilt after World War II, and has a striking mural on the east wall and Stations of the Cross by the German-Jewish painter and sculptor Hans Feibusch (1898-1998).

Hans Feibusch arrived in England in 1933 as a refugee from Nazi Germany. After World War II, he became known for his church murals and he was baptised and joined the Church of England in 1963. He worshipped at Saint Alban’s, where the east wall mural is his largest.

Hans Feibusch also painted the 14 Stations of the Cross in Saint Alban’s, where they were marouflaged to the north and south walls of the church in 1969-1970. Feibusch is also the artist of the sculpture ‘Jesus being Raised from the Dead’ (1985) at the entrance to the church.

In the last years of his life, Hans Feibusch returned to the Judaism of his youth and he was buried with Jewish rites at Golders Green Jewish Cemetery in 1998.

Station 1, Jesus is condemned to death

‘Jesus is condemned to death’ … Station 1 in Saint Alban’s Church, Holborn (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

In Station I, Christ stands alone in Pilate’s Court – perhaps by the pillar at which he has been scourged. In his hand he holds a reed or rod, a simple robe hangs on his shoulders has a crown of thorns is on his head. All are part of the ritual in which he was mocked and scorned after being brought before Pilate (Matthew 27; 28-30; Mark 16: 17; John 19: 2; cf Luke 23: 11).

Station 2, Jesus accepts his Cross

‘Jesus accepts his Cross’ … Station 2 in Saint Alban’s Church, Holborn (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

At Station II, Christ takes the cross on his shoulders. Saint John’s Gospel alone says that Christ carried the cross by himself (John 19: 17); the other three Gospels say Simon of Cyrene was compelled to carry the cross behind him.

Station 3: Jesus falls for the first time

‘Jesus falls for the first time’ … Station 3 in Saint Alban’s Church, Holborn (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

At Station III, Christ falls beneath the weight of his Cross. This is one of the traditional Stations of the Cross that depict Passion scenes that are not recalled in any of the Gospel accounts.

Station 4: Jesus meets his mother Mary

‘Jesus meets his mother Mary’ … Station 4 in Saint Alban’s Church, Holborn (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

At Station IV, Christ meets his Mother Mary. Perhaps he drops his Cross forgetfully as he rushes towards her and she rushes towards him. She stretches out both hands as if she is about to embrace him; he has one arm around her neck, his right hand clutching her left shoulder. But his other arm is being pulled back by the arm of another, a soldier, an official, someone who has also been brutalised.

Station 5: Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the Cross

‘Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the Cross’ … Station 5 in Saint Alban’s Church, Holborn (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

At Station V, we meet Simon of Cyrene, who is compelled to carry Christ’s Cross, according to all three Synoptic Gospels (see Matthew 27: 32; Mark 15: 21-22; Luke 23-26).

Station 6: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

‘Veronica wipes the face of Jesus’ … Station 6 in Saint Alban’s Church, Holborn (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Station VI tells a story not told in any of the four Gospels, although there are some parallels with the story of the woman who was healed miraculously by touching the hem Christ’s garment (Luke 8: 43-48). In popular depictions of this station, Veronica is often seen on her knees, offering her veil with both hands. Christ stretches out to receive the veil, while Simon of Cyrene continues to prop up the Cross. According to tradition, Veronica is moved with sympathy when she sees Christ carrying his cross and gives him her veil to wipe his forehead. When he hands back the veil, it is marked with the image of his face.

Station 7: Jesus falls for the second time

‘Jesus falls for the second time’ … Station 7 in Saint Alban’s Church, Holborn (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Station VII also illustrates a story that is not told any of the four Gospel accounts of Christ’s journey to Calvary, although the popular numbering of three falls may have a Trinitarian intention. In this station, Christ falls to his knees beneath the weight of his cross. As children, we used to say: ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names shall never hurt me.’ Do those who force Christ to carry his cross beat him as he falls with sticks and stones? Do they berate him verbally and call him names?

Station 8: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem

‘Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem’ … Station 8 in Saint Alban’s Church, Holborn (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Saint Luke alone among the Gospel writers tells the story recalled in Station VIII, where Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem:

A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are surely coming when they will say, “Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.” Then they will begin to say to the mountains, “Fall on us”; and to the hills, “Cover us.” For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?’ (Luke 23: 26-35).

The ‘Daughters of Jerusalem’ are mentioned several times in the Song of Solomon (see 1: 5, 2: 7, 3: 10-11, 5: 8, 5: 16). For example: ‘O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, tell him this: I am faint with love’ (Song of Solomon 5: 8).

Station 9: Jesus falls a third time

‘Jesus falls a third time’ … Station 9 in Saint Alban’s Church, Holborn (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Station IX is another of the traditional stations that does not recall an event in any of the passion narratives in the four Gospels. The third fall, like the other two falls, is not mentioned in the Gospel accounts of the Passion, but the incident is part of traditional Christian piety and Station IX in the Stations of the Cross.

Station 10: Jesus is stripped of his clothes

‘Jesus is stripped of his clothes’ … Station 10 in Saint Alban’s Church, Holborn (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Station X depicts a scene described in all four Gospels:

And when they had crucified him, they divided his clothes among themselves by casting lots; then they sat down there and kept watch over him (Matthew 27: 35-36).

And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take. (Mark 15: 24).

And they cast lots to divide his clothing (Luke 23: 34).

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, ‘Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it.’ This was to fulfil what the scripture says,
‘They divided my clothes among themselves,
and for my clothing they cast lots’ (John 19: 23-24).

Station 11: Jesus is nailed to the cross

‘Jesus is nailed to the cross’ … Station 11 in Saint Alban’s Church, Holborn (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

In Station XI, Christ is nailed to the cross. When I search for ‘Nails’ on Google, trying any of the towns I have lived in, I get endless lists of nail bars offering glamorous treatments that I am never going to contemplate or need. But there is nothing glamorous about the nails and hands in Station XI in the Stations of the Cross.

Two thieves will also be nailed to two more crosses on the hilltop. One will ask for mercy and forgiveness and he will receive the promise he seeks from Christ.

In a Byzantine-style crucifix by Laurence King (1907-1981) in the crypt of the Church of Saint Mary le Bow on Cheapside in London, the Cross is placed between the words: ‘Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sins of the World.’

Station 12: Jesus dies on the cross

‘Jesus dies on the cross’ … Station 12 in Saint Alban’s Church, Holborn (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

In Station XII, the Crucified Christ dies between the two thieves on either side. At the top of the Cross are the words written by Pilate, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.’ In Saint Luke’s Gospel alone, the Penitent Thief cries out: ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom’ (Luke 23: 42).

When Christ dies on the Cross in Station XII, the group at the foot of the Cross are mainly women. The Gospel writers say many women were there (Matthew 27: 55; Luke 23: 55), and they name his mother Mary (John 19: 25-27), her sister Mary, the wife of Clopas (John 19: 25), Mary Magdalene (Matthew 27: 56; Mark 15: 40, 47; John 19: 25), Mary the mother of James and Joseph (Matthew 27: 56; Mark 15: 40, 47), Mary the mother of the sons of Zebedee (Matthew 27: 56), and Salome (Mark 15: 40).

The only man at the Cross on Good Friday, apart from those who condemned Christ and the two thieves, is Saint John the Beloved Disciple (John 19: 26).

Station 13: Jesus is taken down from the cross

‘Jesus is taken down from the cross’ … Station 13 in Saint Alban’s Church, Holborn (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Sometimes, Station XIII is described as ‘The Body of Jesus Is Placed in the Arms of his Mother.’ In the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke say Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus, took the body, and wrapped it a clean linen cloth (Matthew 27: 28; Mark 15: 43, 46; Luke 23: 50-53); Saint John’s Gospel adds that Nicodemus helped Joseph with the preparation of the body for burial.

None of the Gospels says that the Virgin Mary held the body of her son when he was taken down from the Cross and before he was buried. But this has become a popular image in Passion scenes, from Michelangelo’s Pieta to the statues that dominate Good Friday processions today in Italy, Spain and Portugal.

The Mother who once cradled the Infant Child on her lap, now holds her dead son on her lap. The hands once raised in adoration and in love, are now raised in horror and in anguish. Had she known that this was the end, would she have said yes to the Angel Gabriel at the Annunciation when he greeted her with those words, ‘Ave Maria, Hail Mary’?

Does she remember now how she once cradled the Christ Child on her lap? Are the grave clothes he is to be wrapped in as he is laid in the grave a reminder to her of the swaddling clothes she wrapped him in as she laid him down to sleep in his crib in Bethlehem?

Station 14: Jesus is placed in the tomb

‘Jesus is placed in the tomb’ … Station 14 in Saint Alban’s Church, Holborn (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

When Christ is laid in the tomb at Station XIV, the Virgin Mary, hands crossed as if she is about to approach the Altar at the Eucharist to receive the Body of Christ, watches as Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus gently lay Christ’s body in the grave.

Nicodemus who came to see Christ under the cover of darkness, now prepares to bury his body before darkness falls. Nicodemus who had questions and doubts, now holds the Body of Christ in his hands. Nicodemus has become a full communicant member of the Church.

In death he knows what is meant by new birth.

‘The Body of Christ given for you.’

‘Amen.’

But this is not the end.

There are seven days of creation. God’s work is complete and God rests on the seventh day; now Christ is to rest in the grave on the seventh day, his work is complete.

Early on Sunday morning, before dawn on the first day of the week, the women come to the tomb with spices they have prepared. But they find the stone has been rolled away from the tomb, there is no body, and two men in dazzling clothes ask them ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen’ (Luke 24: 5). There is a similar greeting in the other two Synoptic Gospels: ‘He is not here; for he has been raised’ (Matthew 28: 6); ‘He has been raised; he is not here’ (Mark 16: 6).

The Cross is empty.

The Grave is empty.

We have Good News to proclaim.

‘Jesus being Raised from the Dead’ (1985), a sculpture by Hans Feibusch (1898-1998), at the entrance to Saint Alban’s Church, Holborn (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The Stations of the Cross in Saint Mary and Saint Giles, Stony Stratford, and Saint Dunstan and All Saints, Stephney (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Saint Alban the Martyr, Father Mackonochie’s celebrated church in a hidden corner in Holborn

Saint Alban’s is a well-known but well-hidden church in Holborn, designed by William Butterfield in 1859 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

I was in London last week for the annual ‘Founder’s Day’ or Bray Day, organised jointly by SPCK (Society for the Promoting Christian Knowledge) and USPG (United Society Propagation of the Gospel), both founded by Thomas Bray.

Bray Day is celebrated each year on 15 February. This year’s celebrations took place in Saint Alban’s Church, Holborn, and the preacher was the former Bishop of Oxford, Richard Harries (Baron Harries of Pentregarth). His sermon on ‘Poetry’ drew on many of the ideas in his 2022 Lent book Hearing God in Poetry: Fifty Poems for Lent and Easter, published by SPCK.

Saint Alban’s Church is dedicated to Saint Alban, the first English saint martyr. It is a well-known but well-hidden church between the City of London and the West End, and serves a part of London known for the jewellery business in the Hatton Garden area and for law firms. It is a beautiful Victorian church, rebuilt after World War II, and with a striking mural on the east wall by Hans Feibusch.

Saint Alban’s was built on the site of Fagin’s Den in Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The site for the church was donated by William Henry Leigh (1824-1905), 2nd Baron Leigh. For Charles Dickens, this was the site of ‘A Thieves’ Kitchen’ or Fagin’s Den in Oliver Twist. The church was designed by William Butterfield in 1859 and was built in 1861-1862 with funds from the financier and banker John Hubbard (1805-1899), 1st Baron Addington, described over the entrance merely as ‘a Merchant of London.’

Saint Alban’s is one of Butterfield’s finest mature works, and remains a powerful composition. As with All Saints’ Church, Margaret Street, Saint Alban’s shows Butterfield’s skill in to working with a difficult, almost impossible site. It is a Gothic-style church, built in red and yellow stock bricks with stone dressings, tiled roofs and with seven bays, and tall, narrow, geometric traceried windows.

It is a tall, wide, aisled church with short transepts abutting the west tower with a saddleback roof. The restrictions of the site forced a blank east wall. The entrance is through the south transept which forms a small chapel.

Lord Addington, who financed the church building, is described over the church door as ‘a Merchant of London’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The Revd Alexander Heriot Mackonochie (1825-1887) was appointed the first perpetual curate or Vicar of Saint Alban’s in 1862. As an undergraduate at Wadham College, Oxford (1844-1848), Mackonochie heard Pusey preach and got to know many of the leading figures in the Oxford Movement.

After curacies in Westbury, Wiltshire, and Wantage, Berkshire, Mackonochie become a curate at Saint George’s-in-the-East, London, in 1858. There he worked with Charles Fuge Lowder (1820-1880) as a mission priest in the slum areas of London Docks. At this time, Saint George’s-in-the-East was a focus for anti-Ritualist rioting, when services were disrupted and stones were thrown at the mission’s priests.

Mackonochie was appointed to Saint Alban’s in 1862. In a letter to Hubbard, the patron of Saint Alban’s, he outlined his theological stand, including his agreement with George Anthony Denison’s ideas Catholic ideas about the Eucharist.

The church was surrounded by the Holborn slums and new Victorian tenement blocks. Mackonochie worked for the construction of many model dwellings in the parish, including Tyndall Buildings, Evelyn Buildings and Saint Alban’s Buildings. Many of the residents of these buildings included soap boilers, tailors, clothes makers, labourers and mechanics.

Mackonochie’s pastoral approach was typical of the ministry of the 19th century Anglo-Catholic ‘slum priests.’ With his two curates, the Revd Arthur Henry Stanton and the Revd Edward Francis Russell, and the support of lay members of the parish, he founded schools, soup kitchens, a working men’s club, mothers’ meetings, clothing funds and more.

Inside Saint Alban’s Church, Holborn, facing east (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

At Saint Alban’s, Mackonochie introduced a daily Eucharist, Gregorian chant and ritual details such as lit candles on the altar and cleansing the eucharistic vessels at the altar. This was the first Anglican church to hold the three-hour devotion on Good Friday (1864) and one of the first to celebrate a Harvest Festival. The use of Incense began at Epiphany 1866. Mackonochie also heard confessions.

From 1867, Mackonochie was also chaplain of the sisterhood of Saint Saviour and the sisters and sisters of the Clewer Community of Saint John Baptist worked in the parish.

Mackonochie became known as ‘the martyr of Saint Alban’s’ and was regularly the target of protests by evangelical or Low Church activists protesting against his ‘ritualism’. But throughout Mackonochie’s later persecution, Saint Alban’s remained a thriving Anglo-Catholic parish.

John Martin was supported by the Church Association when he brought a prosecution against Mackonochie in 1867 under the Church Discipline Act 1840. The charges referred to the priest elevating the host above his head, using a mixed chalice and altar lights, censing things and persons, and kneeling during the prayer of consecration.

Inside Saint Alban’s Church, Holborn, facing west (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The Court of Arches decided against Mackonochie on two counts and in his favour on the other three, with no decision as to the payment of costs. Mackonochie agreed to comply, but the anti-ritualists appealed to the Privy Council, which found against him on the remaining three charges and ordered him to pay all costs.

Even after the prosecution, the Church Association continued to pursue Mackonochie, saying he had re-introduced the prohibited ritual, and on 25 November 1870 he was suspended from office for three months.

He had become a hate-figure for the Low Church, he was banned from preaching in the Diocese of Ripon, and the Irish-born Dean of Ripon, Hugh M’Neile (1796-1879), refused to speak at the Liverpool Church Congress because Mackonochie would also speak. When Thomas Macaulay was speaking in the House of Commons on the Maynooth Endowment Bill, he described M’Neile as ‘the most powerful representative of uncompromising Protestant opinion in the country.’ Even Queen Victoria was appalled by M’Neile’s bigotry, expressing her dismay at his anti-Catholic fervour.

A second lawsuit was brought against Mackonochie in March 1874, repeating the old charges and adding new ones, including processions with a crucifix, the use of the Agnus Dei, and facing east during the consecration. Mackonochie stood firm in the face of the prosecutions, but on 12 June 1875 was found against on most of the charges and suspended for six weeks.

John Martin appealed to the Dean of Arches in 1878, claiming Mackonochie had not obeyed the 1875 judgment. Mackonochie was brought before a new court created by the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874, and he was suspended for three years.

A fresh round of prosecutions was under way in 1882 when, at the deathbed request of Archbishop Archibald Campbell Tait, Mackonochie resigned from Saint Alban’s to move to Saint Peter’s, London Docks, the church founded by CF Lowder in 1866. By then, the mob violence that Mackonochie had faced mob violence during his time with Lowder in the 1850s and 1860s. This had abated by the 1880s, but had the prosecutions continued.

Despite the vibrancy of Saint Peter’s, Mackonochie was unhappy. He had moved from Saint Alban’s out of a sense of duty, but missed his old parish. His self-confidence was waning and by July 1883 he faced yet another suspension. Knowing that suspension would be disastrous for the parish, Mackonochie resigned from Saint Peter’s in December 1883, only a year after resigning from Saint Alban’s.

A memorial to Father Mackonochie in the courtyard at Saint Alban’s (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Instead of moving to another parish, Mackonochie moved into the Clergy House at Saint Alban’s, where he worked as an assistant priest. He died on 15 December 1887, aged 62. He was described by a contemporary as bringing ‘light into the dark places, and beauty and orderliness and peace before weary eyes and harassed minds, and sweet and ennobling music to ears accustomed to discordant curses, and screams of anger, and cries of pain.’

Mackonochie’s curate, the Revd Arthur Henry Stanton (1839-1913), remained a curate at Saint Alban’s (1862-1913), an indefatigable champion of the poor, a staunch champion of rituals, and an exuberant preacher.

A chapel added to the church in 1891 was designed by Charles Henry Money Mileham (1837-1917), with stained glass by Charles Eamer Kempe (1898). It also has two of the original Stations of the Cross by Ninian Comper.

A statue of Saint Alban, the first English martyr and saint, in Saint Alban’s Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The church hosted the first complete performance in England of Olivier Messiaen’s La Nativité du Seigneur in 1938, and played by the composer.

The church was burned out during the London Blitz in 1941, although the 1891 chapel survived. The church and the attached clergy house have been Grade II* listed buildings since 1951.

The main church was restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott’s grandson, Adrian Gilbert Scott (1882-1963), in 1959-1961, with a new organ by John Compton. Scott’s simple but dignified scheme incorporated several features of the old building, but replaced Butterfield’s elaborate decoration. The tower opens into the nave through a great arch by Butterfield. The arcade was rebuilt with stone at the lower levels and rendered above.

‘The Trinity in Glory’, the mural by Hans Feibusch, covers the east wall of the church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The east wall of Saint Alban’s is covered by a mural, ‘The Trinity in Glory’ (1966) by the German-Jewish painter and sculptor Hans Feibusch (1898-1998), who also painted the Stations of the Cross. Feibusch arrived in England in 1933 as a refugee from Nazi Germany. After World War II, he became known for his church murals and he was baptised and joined the Church of England in 1963. He worshipped at Saint Alban’s, where the east wall mural is his largest.

‘The Trinity in Glory’ is a celebration of liberation, depicting Christ’s manifesto in the words of Isaiah that has fuelled and continues to fuel the ministry of this church. The mural measures 8.8 metres by 15.2 metres (29 ft by 50 ft) and depicts more than 50 principal figures. Feibusch completed the work with the assistance of Phyllis Bray in only three months. Among those 50 principal figures, Father Mackonochie is shown wearing green vestments, together with other clergy who have served Saint Alban's, including the Vicar at the time of the painting, Father Peter Priest.

‘Jesus being Raised from the Dead’ (1985), a sculpture by Hans Feibusch (1898-1998), at the entrance to the church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Feibusch also painted the 14 Stations of the Cross, which were marouflaged to the north and south walls of the church in 1969-1970, and he is the artist of the sculpture ‘Jesus being Raised from the Dead’ (1985) at the entrance to the church.

In the last years of his life, Feibusch returned to the Judaism of his youth and he was buried with Jewish rites at Golders Green Jewish Cemetery in 1998.

The Mackonochie chapel survived the bombing during World War II, and it has stained glass 1885 and 1898 by CE Kempe (1885 and 1898) and two of the original Stations of the Cross by Sir Ninian Comper (1912).

Father Mackonochie depicted in green robes in ‘The Trinity in Glory’, the mural by Hans Feibusch in Saint Alban’s (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Saint Alban’s hosted the foundation of Affirming Catholicism, representing a liberal strand of Anglo-Catholicism, in 1990. But the church is now a traditionalist Anglo-Catholic parish under the Alternative Episcopal Oversight of Bishop Jonathan Baker of Fulham.

Father Christopher Smith has been the Vicar of Saint Alban’s since 2011. He is the tenth vicar and succeeded Father Howard Levett who retired in 2010. The Revd Duncan Hegan is the curate; he is originally from Bangor, Co Down, and was ordained last year.

• Saint Alban’s Church emphasises the sacramental life of the Church, and is open every day. On Sundays, Family Mass is at 9:30 and Solemn Mass at 11 am. Coffee is served between the two masses. Mass is celebrated in the Mackonochie Chapel, Monday to Friday at 12:30.

Looking out onto the world … the entrance to Saint Alban’s (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)